Ankh-Morpork preview on BGG News

There’s a lot of buzz around Ankh-Morpork, even though the game isn’t due out until late in 2011, but the reasons for this are clear, of course: a new Martin Wallace design themed in the Discworld settings. Gamers who are also Terry Pratchett fans are champing at the bit to see how this combination will work.

I was lucky enough to play Ankh-Morpork three times recently thanks to Martin sending two copies of the prototype for hands-on testing at PLAY: The Games Festival, Italy’s largest event for board gamers. (Advance preview copies at conventions are another big reason for the buzz!) Note that this preview is based on a prototype version of the design, so things might change in the published game. Let’s start with the setting:

Read on BGG News the full article

PLAY 2011: New Releases & Demo Games

On March 26-27, 2011 the Italian city of Modena will host PLAY: The Games Festival, the largest Italian gaming event and one that differs from festivals like Lucca Comics & Games in that the main focus is on games and the playing of those games. With more than 270 gaming events and 100+ tables dedicated to open gaming, PLAY is the ideal place for gamers who want to sample the new Nuremberg releases, in addition to getting a look at what will be released in the future.

Here’s a rundown of the Italian publishers that will present new and upcoming releases at PLAY:

Read on BGG News the full article

Winter Tales, caming from Albe Pavo

Following its 2010 debut title Munera: Famillia Gladiatoria, Italian publisher Albe Pavo will take a stroll in another direction of game design with Winter Tales, a storytelling game that seems to inherit a lot from Fabula but which also has new and interesting mechanisms. Winter Tales, which is still in the playtest phase at this point, has been developed with Janus Design, an Italian group that has a lot of experience with RPGs. Here’s an overview of theme and game play from the designers:

Winter has tightened its grip on the country of fairy tales. Powered by hatred and fear, Winter aims to smother the flames of love with ice and snow, forever obscuring the light of hope in the eternal darkness of the winter night.

Read the full Article on BGG News

BGG News: 011

Today I’m going to talk about 011, a new project from Scribabs designed by Marco “Iz” Valtriani. Soon some notes from MArco himself

Paolo Vallerga has released a number of games through his own company Scribabs that pay as much attention to the graphics and art as they do to the game design, Star System or Sator Arepo Tenet Opera Rotas being two such examples.

The next release from Scribabs – due out in October 2011 at Spiel, with rules in German, English, French, Spanish, Italian and Dutch – will feature another blending of art and design: 011 from Marco Valtriani. Here’s an overview of the game: “011 is a study of 1800s esotericism in a steampunk setting that involves the Swedish symphonic metal band Therion.” And in case that summary only whets your appetite, here’s a longer write-up:

Read the full articole on BoardGameGeek News

BGG News: new titles from Cranio Crerations

Here I’m with my second post on BGG News. This time I got a preview of what Cranio Creations are preparing for the next months

Italian publisher Cranio Creations, which debuted in 2009 with Horse Fever, has revealed details of three new games coming from the company. Here’s an overview of the trio of titles:

Dungeon Fighter

Explore spooky dungeons, find glorious treasure, buy powerful magic items, and challenge the most horrible creatures. Will your party be able to defeat the final boss?

Dungeon Fighter will be the first game where your physical skill determines the ability of your character. Can you kill the Medusa without looking into her eyes, defeat the Minotaur in its labyrinth, or resist the Dragons’ breath? Will you be able to hit the target by throwing the dice from under your leg, with your eyes closed?

Read the full article on BoardGameGeek News

BGG News: Ludoteca Ideale

Inizia oggi la mia collaborazione con Boardgamegeek News e come primo articolo posto la lista dei titoli selezionati per la Ludoteca Ideale 2010.

Start today my collaboration with Boardgamegeek New. My first article is about Ludoteca Ideale 2010

I’m proud to announce the list of games nominated for Ludoteca Ideale 2011, a project developed by Club TreEmme and La Tana dei Goblin that aims to celebrate the ten best games released during the year from Italian publishers in the Italian language. The nominating committee is comprised of ten members, nine of whom are Italian game experts, reviewers and journalists, with the tenth member being the sum of the votes of all members of Club TreEmme and La Tana dei Goblin.

Read the full article on BGG News